Getting Back on the Horse
by Kade Riggs
Summary: In her mid-twenties and finally finished with college, Jack comes to a tough crossroads in life and love.


"What're you looking at?" Riddick asked, catching her watching him while he worked underneath the combustible-engine Humvee secured to the floor of the ship's cargo bay by thick cables so it wouldn't slide around during take-offs and landings.

The shine on his eyes flashed in the dark shadows beneath the vehicle when he glanced out at her. He reached down to wipe the grease on his fingers off on his black cargos, and even that small movement made his well-muscled forearm and shoulder ripple.

Jack's eyes followed every single minute movement. She still couldn't quite believe he was actually here, right in front of her. He'd picked her up half an hour ago in the public portion of the spaceport and now they were killing some time—doing routine maintenance while waiting for their launch window to roll around.

"You," she finally answered, a bit of a sad smile touching the corner of her mouth. "You haven't changed a bit."

Riddick snorted. "Want to hand me that wrench, baldy?"

Jack smiled at the nickname and brushed her long brown hair behind her ear when she reached for the tool he'd indicated, reaching under the vehicle to hand it to him.

It had been ten years since she'd shorn off her hair in an effort to look like a boy, and during that time she'd certainly changed enough for both of them. Her dark-brown locks hung down to her shoulders and her eyebrows were carefully sculpted to accent eyes that she felt were just a bit too large. Her features were sun-kissed from spending her afternoons studying on library patio under the bright New Mecca sun and a few freckles sprinkled a nose she found to be a bit more fleshy than she liked.

Add make-up, flattering but practical clothes cut for a female form, along with a healthy dose of confidence she'd gained upon finally—_finally_—receiving her degree in information technology from the University in New Mecca's capital, and she'd fully expected Riddick to pass her right by in the crowded space port, not knowing her from the thousands of other girls her age returning home after final exams. When she imagined finally seeing him again, she always recognized him first. So it came as a bit of a shock when he'd tapped her on the shoulder. She hadn't even seen him coming.

Then again, when had she ever seen Riddick coming?

"So, what's up with this dinosaur?" she asked, referring to the vehicle. Combustion engines were virtually non-existent in civilized portions of space. There was a large fuel tank on the opposite side of the bay and she assumed it was for the truck.

"Would you prefer solar-powered in a tight spot?" he asked.

Jack shuttered at the memory. "No," she admitted.

At least the vehicle had character. Even to her untrained eye she could see how heavily armored it was, although a few of the battle scars and scorch marks on its sides made her a bit uneasy.

How many tight spots had Riddick gotten into in this thing anyway?

She probably didn't want to know.

"So, are you going to teach me how to drive it?" she asked.

"Eventually. For now, why don't you get down here?" he said. "Might as well learn how it works before it breaks down on a job."

With a sigh, Jack obliged, laying down on her back and using her legs to push her under the truck next to Riddick. He'd already changed the oil and was checking for play in the drive shaft. He removed the cover on the front differential and showed her the gears.

While he checked out the differential gears in the back, the two of them lapsed into silence.

"So, tell me if I have this straight," Riddick said. "You got dumped..."

"I dumped him," Jack corrected. "Six months ago."

"So you dumped this guy and now he's bugging you."

She'd halfway hoped this explanation wouldn't be necessary, but she should've known better. Riddick liked to be in the know about everything. "I told him I still wanted to be friends, and up until about a week ago we were. I mean, we are. Except, he still sort of wanted to be with me, and that was nice, but I knew it would never happen. I wanted him to move on and be happy."

"And then he did," Riddick finished for her.

Jack took a deep breath and blew it out. "And then he did," she repeated in somber agreement. Like she really needed to be reminded. "It's great. I'm really happy for him. I just don't want to sit around and get Jack 2.0—smarter, funnier and prettier than the original Jack—shoved in my face all the time. I mean seriously. We dated for four years. You'd think he'd have the decency to be—I don't know, _decent_ about it."

"You sure he didn't dump you?" Riddick asked.

Jack rolled her eyes. "Well, if never showing up on time, never calling and never being around when I needed him counts as being dumped..."

Riddick grunted in the affirmative.

"Then yes, I got dumped," Jack concluded. "Except he was too chicken to actually do it himself, so he left that part up to me too. And as a reward, God handed him Jack 2.0."

Riddick finished replacing the cover over the gears and then turned his head to face her, those iridescent eyes flashing at her in the spare light. He had a small but wicked smile on his face that she recognized. His '_got ya' _smile. The same one he gave Johns when the bounty-hunter thought he had the upper hand on Riddick, only to look down and discover a shiv tapping against his crotch.

How strange had her life been, when a pair of shined eyes on a convicted murderer reminded her of home?

"Fuck 'em," Riddick said. Just like that. Rough but simple.

Jack smiled. Even ten years later, Riddick still knew exactly how to sum it up. "Fuck 'em," she agreed, even though her heart still ached. This long after she'd ended it she hadn't expected leaving to be so hard. "Fuck 'em both."

Indeed, fuck them both. With graduation looming and all her friends going their separate ways _except _for the ex-boyfriend she'd once loved and his 'amazing' new girlfriend, Jack had put out a call to a man she once knew in her mid-teens; a man who should've forgotten about her long ago.

And here he was, taking her onboard his high-speed cargo cruiser as his technical support officer.

He'd come back for her again when she needed him most.

He was the only one who ever had.

"Come on, kid, our launch window is in half an hour." Sliding from beneath the chassis, he rose to his feet, offering her a hand up when she cleared out from underneath.

"Jack 2.0, huh?" he asked when she gained her feet, a low, rumbling chuckle starting deep within his chest. "Can't hardly believe there's two girls on this planet named Jack."

Smacking him, Jack turned away to head toward the ship's interior, passing through the portal separating the cargo bay from the living quarters and the cabin. "Jerk," she said, teasing, picking up her backpack with all her worldly belongings packed inside. All the belongings she'd decided to keep, anyway. The rest she'd sold or given away. It had been a very cleansing process, preparing for this new life of travel. "I hate to admit it, but she's actually nice, even if the jackass does parade her in front of me. Her name's Lilandra."

"Lilandra? Makes me glad I didn't have any parents, if that's the kind of shit they're naming their kids these days." Riddick caught up with her down the hall, just outside the cabin. At her adult height, Jack hit him just above shoulder-level, and yet he still struck her as a massive individual.

He paused passing her, looking down out of the corner of one eye.

"You should know," he said. "There will only ever be one Jack."

Folding her arms over her chest, she asked, "How can you be so sure?" If nothing else, the course of her life had taught Jack she wasn't special. The nightmare she'd survived on T2 had driven that point home.

He shrugged. "Been a lot of places. Met a lot of people. Even had to ghost a few of them." He started to move forward, toward the cockpit at the front of this ship. Without glancing back, he called back to her, "Still haven't found another like you."

With a small smile on her face and some of the weight on her heart lifted, she followed after her new captain, taking her place in the chair by his side and watching him do all his checks. Riddick talked with the tower, got his clearance and powered up the engines.

With one hand on the yoke and the other on the throttle he looked over at her.

"You ready?" he asked.

Jack smiled, her eyes pointed toward the blue sky above that would soon give way to the vast expanse of space. What she'd gone through with her ex had been painful as hell, but it gave her the strength and courage to take a chance calling Riddick. There were a few lasting pangs of regret, because leaving behind everything she knew once again was no small thing.

But this was for the best. She knew that in her heart.

"Punch it," she said. She was ready. Ready to start a new life.

Only this time, she'd be doing it in better company.


End file.
